Multicultural Women's Living Stories Radio Project

Women’s Living Stories - Podcasts

The NEMBC Women’s Committee initiated the Women’s Living Stories Radio Project for women broadcasters to share their work and share the stories of women from all walks of life, from all cultures and in all languages.

The project is a way to facilitate understanding, dialogue and sharing. It’s an opportunity to recognise of the achievements, celebrations and various challenges faced by women in Australia.

You are welcome to download these podcasts and use these interviews in your community radio program, but please credit the original author.

Please note this is an ongoing project and we welcome you to submit a story to be posted as a podcast and shared. The topics, reflections, memories, stories, experiences and perspectives you choose to discuss in your interview or feature are up to you! Community members who wish to be interviewed can also be part of the project. Just contact the NEMBC to be put in touch with a broadcaster to assist with the recording.

Luciana Cedro

Like many young brides, Luciana Cedro left Italy in the early 50s to join her husband and start a brand new life in Australia. Luciana's husband had arrived two years before to find work and make a home for his beautiful young wife and baby son. On her arrival in Brisbane, Luciana was horrified to discover that her husband had made other arrangements and their plans of a happy family life together in a new country were not going to eventuate. With determination and great courage, Luciana chose to stay here with her two year old son to build her own new life. Her story highlights the social and cultural hardships faced by many migrant women arriving in Australia after WWII.

The Spice of Life

Syahisti Abdurrachman is a broadcaster for the Indonesian program and multicultural women’s program on 3ZZZ. Syahisti speaks of the imagination, intuition and dedication one needed to be able to cook Indonesian dishes in Melbourne during the 1950s.

Val French

Val grew up in a family where education for both boys and girls was encouraged and highly valued. With that education came the responsibility to right social injustices and work to make our society better for all people instead of just a privileged few. With this in mind, Val has worked tirelessly for the rights of women in tertiary education, particularly journalism and more recently, for the rights of older people. Val lives the philosophy of her youth by working to right unfairness in our society and helping people help themselves through support and action.

Migration, Language,Culture

These stories are of three ESL students: Paulina Zakrzewska, Soo Jeong Kwon (Crystal) and Zhanneta Moiseeva. Barbara Catic teaches these students English through courses at Diversitat and found out why these students came to Australia, the challenges of learning a new language and the importance of maintaining their first language for their children.

Kylie Cassidy, Freedom Ride

Kylie is a young Aboriginal woman working for Koori Connect and was involved in the re enactment of the 1965 Freedom Ride with Charles Perkins. The Freedom Ride visited Bowraville Theatre to protest against the segregation of Aboriginal people in the theatre. The Freedom Ride sets out to give remote Aboriginal communities an active role in supporting constitutional change for Indigenous Australians.

Raksmey Var - Lotus Outreach, Cambodia

Raksmey Var works at Lotus Outreach, a not-for-profit organisation dedicating to ensuring the education, health and safety of vulnerable women and children in Cambodia. Raksmey shares her experiences working with women and children in Cambodia

Kalisi Bese Volatabu is a volunteer broadcaster with the Fijian Program Group in Brisbane at Radio 4EB. When Kalisi was 14, she was sent on a four week holiday to relatives in Sydney. When her visit time expired, Kalisi asked her Mum if she could return home. Her Mum refused, as she believed that Australia was the best place for her, a popular dream of parents from the Pacific. This decision resulted in trauma, abuse, homelessness and even detention at Villawood Detention Centre. Kalisi now uses her own experiences to a positively impact the lives of others as a Community Development Officer in Brisbane and as an active member of the Pacific Island Reference Group Inc (PIRG).